FINAL SCORE
24/22 William & Mary 31 (5-3, 3-2 CAA)
Monmouth 28 (3-5, 2-3 CAA)

WILLIAMSBURG, VA – No. 24/22 William & Mary blocked a potential game-tying field goal in the final seconds to defeat the Monmouth University football team, 31-28, on Saturday afternoon at Zable Stadium.

Monmouth erased a 21-7 halftime deficit and held a 28-24 lead in the fourth quarter following two long touchdown runs by Jaden Shirden and a 16-yard TD pass from Marquez McCray to Dymere Miller. Monmouth's defense was strong in the second half as the Hawks got back in the game, but William & Mary took advantage of good field position and scored the decisive touchdown with six minutes to play.

Shirden ran for 251 yards, including TD runs of 45 and 75 yards, to lead Monmouth's offensive efforts. On defense, Jake Brown led the way with 12 tackles and Antonio Colclough had a key sack in the second half to aid the comeback bid.

The visiting Hawks jumped out to an early 7-0 lead following an impressive nine-play 70-yard drive that was capped off by a Sone Ntoh plunge from a yard out. The drive featured a key third-down reception by Gavin Nelson and big plays from Shirden and Miller.

The Tribe responded in the second quarter with three long touchdown drives of 89, 92 and 84 yards to take a 21-7 lead into the halftime break. Malachi Imoh had a pair of touchdowns for William & Mary and Lucas Martin's one-yard run on fourth and goal pushed the advantage to two scores with under a minute to go in the first half.
 
NOTES AND QUOTES
"In this conference, every week is going to be like that, it doesn't matter who the teams are. We found that out last year, every week is a battle. Every week is going to go down to the wire and the victory is going to go to the team who makes the plays when they need to make them at the key times. I thought both teams did that today. We had some big plays in some critical situations as did William and Mary, you have to give them credit because I thought they did a really good job as well."
Head Coach Kevin Callahan on the competitiveness of the CAA

"He (Jaden Shirden) had an outstanding day. Going against the top defense in the CAA he rushed for 250 plus yards, that's an outstanding effort. Any time you can do that against a really good defense that says something. Overall, we rushed for over 300 yards and threw for 122 so we had a real productive day on offense."
Callahan on the offensive effort

The game was the first-ever matchup between Monmouth and William & Mary.
Charlie Sasso made his first-career start at linebacker.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
Jaden Shirden increased his career rushing touchdowns total to 24 and moved into a tie with Lavon Chaney for eighth in team history.
Shirden recorded the 16th 100-yard rushing game of his career and the sixth 200-yard game of his career, the most in Monmouth history. It was Shirden's fourth straight 100-yard game. 
Shirden's 251 rushing yards were the third most in a single game in Monmouth history and his career.
Shirden is up to 1,173 rushing yards on the year, the sixth most in a single season in program history. 
Sone Ntoh scored his CAA leading 12th touchdown of the season. His 12 touchdowns are tied for 10th on Monmouth's single-season list.
Dymere Miller had six catches for 62 yards and a touchdown. Miller's TD was his sixth of the year and the 14th of his career, tying him for seventh in MU history with Adam San Miguel.
Miller has 63 grabs this season, which ranks eighth on the single-season receptions list.
Mike Reid registered the 23rd pass breakup of his career, the fifth most in Monmouth history.
Eddie Morales III moved into a tie for ninth in Monmouth history with 19 career pass breakups.
Jake Brown led Monmouth with a season-high 12 tackles.
Antonio Colclough registered a sack for the second straight game.

UP NEXT
Monmouth will host Stony Brook at Kessler Stadium on November 4 for a 1 p.m. kickoff.